Hard Quality
Hardness; one of the twenty gunas that increases vata and kapha while decreasing pitta.
Hard Quality (Kathina)
Kathina (hard) is one of the 20 universal attributes and the opposite of mrudu (soft). The hard quality increases vata and decreases pitta. In later stages of disease, it also increases kapha, such as when a tumor is formed.
Kathina increases hardness, strength, rigidity, selfishness, callousness, and insensitivity in the mind. Physical manifestations include lungs becoming hard in pneumonia and callouses forming on the hands or feet. Sleeping on a hard bed increases vata.
Source: Textbook of Ayurveda: Fundamental Principles, Chapter Two: Universal Attributes and Doshic Theory
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